Summer has been busy
It’s been a busy summer so far. We’re just into July and I’m wondering where the summer went already. To start off, the spring series of RC racing at 106 Race Park ended 2 weeks ago. I finished the season in the monster class in first place. Finally a first place finish for me. I’ll pot pics of the trophy as soon as I get it. This week is the beginning of our Friday night series, also at 106 Race Park. I’m excited because the night series brings with it the challenge of racing with less light. Unfortunately it looks like we might be missing our first race this week as it is supposed to rain Friday night. I’m also wondering what the night racing will bring for challenges in photography. We’ll have to see how it all turns out.
Read MoreWhat’s Going On
It’s been a while since I have made a “What’s Going On” update, mostly because not much has been going on. Now some things have gone on, so I wanted to update whoever reads this thing. I’ll start with the obligatory list and go on from there.
Reading
The SkyLark by Peter Straub
Songs of a Dead Dreamer by Thomas Ligotti
I‘ll start with The Skylark from Peter Straub published by Subterranean Press. This book is a special edition, as are a large portion of the Subterranean Press books. It has an extra chapter not found in the mass market publishing you’ll find at Borders or Barnes and Noble under a different title A Dark Matter. Unfortunately I am not sure I’ll ever get to that chapter. I’m sorry Mr. Straub, but the pace of this book (think snail crawl) is killing me. My quick synopsis would be as follows. In 1966 a small group of friends fall in with a mystical guru type man named Spencer Mallon who enrolls them all in an experiment. The experiment itself is a mystery, but Mallon promises it will “alter the nature of reality itself”. What happens with the experiment and it’s long term repercussions are what the story is all about. Read More
Spring Fling 2010
Yesterday was the Spring Fling race at 106 Race Park. The weather was great, and we had a decent turnout. I believe there were less racers than last year, but that is just what I heard, I was not at the race last year. This probably had to do with a trophy race down at RC Madness in Connecticut as well as out race though.
I entered both my E-Revo and my Slash 4×4 into the race. I think this race really showed me it’s time to get rid of the Slash 4×4 though. I ran the first two heats, and skipped the 3rd. I let Josh run the truck in the main. I am just not that into the truck. I don’t really like the way it drives around the track. This is not just a driver not controlling the car issue, I just don’t enjoy driving it as much as I do the E-Revo. So this week my plan is to clean it up, remove the receiver, and post it. Like I mentioned before, it’ll hit the 106 Race Park forums first. If nothing happens there in a week or two, it’ll go onto RC Tech. Don’t get me wrong the Slash 4×4 is a great truck, lots of people love theirs. It just is not for me apparently. I’m not sure if I will go with my plan to pick up a 1/8th Buggy or not. As much as I love racing, I just can’t justify another car. Buying one is not not cheap, and keeping it running is even worse. So for now I think it’ll be back to E-Revo only.
Read More2010 RC Racing Season is Go!
Saturday was the beginning of the 2010 race season at 106 Race Park. I showed up with my freshly rebuilt E-Revo, and my not so fresh Slash 4×4. Turnout looked great at the start, however as the day wore several drivers left, including myself. I am not sure if it was just the heat, or the combination of that and a battery charger acting up, but I decided I wasn’t in the mood to keep going, somewhere around 3 or 4. I am not sure what the deal was, but my Triton EQ2 started having issues. My best guess is that it doesn’t like being left out in the heat. It seemed to be ok after some time in the shade, so hopefully it’ll be fine for the next race. I still think I need new batteries and now possibly a new charger. I am just reluctant to pay for them as those are the two things I hate buying most. I’m not sure why, but I just don’t like buying the batteries. They are pricey, the same goes for the chargers. I also never know which way to go. Buy more batteries for less money, i.e Turnigy packs, or buy one pair of really great packs. For the price of 1 pair of Maxamps batteries, I could buy something like 8 Turnigy packs. I am not talking about cutting down on the mAh rating or number of cells either. They are usually close, something like 5000 mAh Turnigy and 6500 mAh Maxamps, both 2S. I know all batteries are created equal, but from what some folks say, all cells are. So Maxamps, if you’re listening, send me two LiPO or LiFE packs for my E-Revo, I’ll review and support you guys if they really are worth the cash. I’m sure that will happen.
Read MoreBusy, busy, busy
It’s been a couple weeks since my last update, I’ve been busy and a bit lazy. I started the new job back on the 5th, so this is my 3rd week there. Everything is going great there. The people I work with are nice and fun to work with. The work is great too. I’ve already made some small improvements to some things on the site. Now I am working on tying together our lead generation system and a virtual call center. So far that project is progressing smoothly.
Outside of work I’ve been busy too. I finally ordered a new camera to replace the older Canon Digital Rebel XT I bought Jess about 4 years ago. The new camera is a nice new Canon 7D. I order a new lens with it as well, a Canon 70-200mm f/4 L USM. It’s a good size telephoto zoom lens. It’s a good size lens, physically, and along with the new camera I feel like a real photographer now. I’m trying to sell the Digital Rebel XT (if anyone is interested let me know). Selling that should be able to cover the price of an acceptable macro lens to add into the collection. Both the camera and the lens are killer, and I think they’ll be prefect for the pics I want to get at the RC Track this year. With a few more lenses I think I’ll have a nice all around setup to take any kind of picture I want. Along with the macro lens I plan to buy a better general purpose lens, and a wide angle lens. I plan on uploading most, if not all, of the pics I take from now on. I’ll still upload the RC Race pics of course, but I want to try and take some other stuff this year. Maybe some landscapes or something.
Since I mentioned RC Racing, I’ll talk a bit more about that. The Spring season is coming up fast. we had scheduled a track clean up day for last Saturday, April 17th, but the rain and ruined that. This weekend, April 24th, and possibly 25th, is also supposed to be clean up now. The next weekend, May 1st, is the beginning of the Spring series. I’m excited and can’t wait to start racing again. I still need to finish rebuilding the E-Revo. Right now it is a chassis without any electronics, shocks, or wheels. The plan for now is to finish that up this week or next. That is still my favorite of the two trucks to run so I can’t let it sit much longer. I still plan on ordering some new batteries, most likely from MaxAmps.com. They recently added their better warranty every order, for free. Now their LiPO packs are warrantied for 3 Years or 300 cycles, and their LiFE packs are 5 Years or 1000 cycles. Those are fantastic warranties for any battery. I’m not sure if I want to go with LiPOs again, or maybe try out the safer LiFE packs. I keep thinking maybe the LiFE might not have enough power, but who am I kidding? I am not a pro level racer, and the .05 seconds a LiPO might give me over the LiFE pack is not going to do much for me. The safety factor is nice, and the faster charge capability is nice too. Those might be bigger factors for me than whatever tiny amount of power difference there is.
Other than that, life is moving on as always. I have not finished any books lately. I am dragging with The Club Dumas. It’s not quite as exciting as I had hoped. I’m working to finish it though, so I can move onto the rest of my waiting list. I now have 11 books to read. I know of at least 1 more I have pre-ordered, it might be 2. I also read that the next book in my favored Temeraire series by Naomi Novik is coming out this summer. I’m sure I will move that to the front of the list if there still is a list by then. I also still have to order the remaining True Blood books.
On that note, whatever it was, I am off for dinner. Have fun and keep it between the ditches!
Read MoreWhat’s going on
Reading
The Club Dumas by Arturo Pérez-Reverte
I am still working on The Club Dumas. The book is good so far, but to be honest, it hasn’t “grabbed me” yet. So far in the book, the main character has been set up pretty well, as well as the narrator, and two supporting characters. One of them is the mysterious evil influence that I am sure will pop up throughout the book and ultimately be defeated, or possibly befriended, based on some of the setup for this one. Other than that, the book moves kind of slow. A lot of time is spent on discussing or explaining The Three Musketeers by Alexandrea Dumas. Yes, I realize this book is called “The Club DUMAS”, but I wasn’t expecting to read a book that basically explains and interprets another book. I thought it was more of a background item in the story. Hopefully this is just more setup for the book, but I am almost halfway through already and this hasn’t let up yet. I still have high hopes for the book to pickup and grab me, but I won’t know for sure until I get there. I’ll make sure I update again once this book is finished. Read More
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